Raiders check in at No. 32 in PFT’s preseason power rankings

So here we go with our rankings of the NFL’s clubs, stacked from No. 32 all the way down to No. 1.

And like last year, the Oakland Raiders are 32nd and last in our power ratings, which were compiled by a vote of the PFT staff.

All we can say to Raiders fans is this: the games will start soon enough, and Oakland looks to be more skilled than a season ago. The early-season schedule is manageable. It’s quite possible the Raiders could be one of September’s darlings. Three of their first four games are against the Jets, Texans and Dolphins.

The schedule gets tougher thereafter, though. The suspicion here is we will quickly know whether all of the money the Raiders spent this offseason will have made a difference.

And now, we turn to the audience. Should the Raiders be the NFL’s 32nd-ranked team entering the season? Let us know in the poll and in the comments.

It seems like everyone believes, or says they believe, there is more talent on this years roster than last despite the addition of older talent and the losses of Veldheer and Houston and they finished 28th.

The 32nd team should be the browns, they’re loading Gordon for the season and the qb battle is hoyer and manziel. not looking good in Cleveland

schmitty2 says:Jul 7, 2014 10:30 AM

This is about the time of year where the Raider homers start with their usual “We are much improved….we have a chance to make the playoffs blah blah blah” Is the team improved? Maybe, but most of the free agent signings are guys way past their prime (MJD, Tuck etc.) With Denver in their division and also playing the NFC West (4 of the toughest defenses in football) it looks like another 5-6 win season IMO.

LMAO @ the ‘experts’ including Wilkening. I’m certainly not going to proclaim greatness for my team but I’m going to wait to see how the season unfolds before conceding that 2014 is going to be a disaster.

lanjoith says:Jul 7, 2014 11:05 AM

I don’t see the Browns winning a game but the Raiders are a solid 31. Matt Schaub is a choke artist. Every year we hear the same thing from fans and every year Oakland finishes last in the West. Justin Tuck is no different from when Oakland got Wimbley. one player is going to fix the defense. Mack is a good building block but even “if” management knows what they are doing, the Raiders are still 2-3 years away from finishing over .500. SD is the real deal in the West and once Manning retires there won’t be another team to rival them for a while.

El Pollo Loco says:Jul 7, 2014 11:05 AM

They’re 32nd because there is only 32 teams in the nfl.if they included college teams they’d be around 70

walkinginthewasteland says:Jul 7, 2014 11:26 AM

Arguably Jacksonville belongs at #32. But it is hard to come up with other teams as lousy as the Raiders. Buffalo? Thats about it.

I agree with RaiderMark. We’ll have a climb to average. If we stay healthy and take care of home field we can end up 7-9. Many will laugh but anything is better than another 4-10 season.

jimjets says:Jul 7, 2014 12:20 PM

fine with me, rank the Jets 31st if you like.

and we’ll catch up in January and just see bout dat.

jeremyb91 says:Jul 7, 2014 1:09 PM

And just like last year, PFT will be wrong again. I’m not expecting miracles to happen, but last year on paper the Raiders had the worst roster in the NFL yet ended up with the 5th worst record.

At best I see 7 wins which will equate to being better than 32nd in the NFL. As usual though, it’s nice to see some PFT bias when Demarcus Ware is still a stud who will be 32 this year, yet Justin Tuck is over the hill at 31.

Putting the Raiders at 32 is simply insane. They weren’t the worst team in football last year and they’ve improved a lot. I’m not saying they’re a good team (they’re gonna have to prove that) but if anything, the Texans, who were the worst team in football last year, have only gotten worse. Then there’s the Browns, the Jags, the Bills, the Titans…so many teams out there to consider but in predictable fashion, PFT continues to hate on Schaub, as if he’s the worst QB to ever play the game. The Raiders D is gonna be night and day better than last year (we no longer have to blitz 50% of the time to get pressure on the QB) and we no longer have Pryor and a FA rookie QBing the team. Schaub is gonna be allowed to do things with this team, unlike the overrated dictator that is Kubiak. The offensive line has potential to be pretty solid (there are looming question marks I admit). This team is closer to 8-8 than 3-13.

thejimthorpejamsession says:Jul 7, 2014 2:05 PM

32 is indeed too low to place them, yes.

They won’t get to or win the Superbowl this year, no.

And they DO have the league’s hardest schedule. So they will have a weak record, no doubt.

Playing both the AFC and NFC West divisions is going to cause their coaches heartburn and sleepless nights.

But are they the weakest/worst team in the league? Will that be our judgement come the end of the year? Not likely.

I think PFT’s last place ranking of the Raiders is based on more than just the lack of talent on the roster. There might be a few teams with less talent, but no team in the NFL is more dysfunctional, starting from the ownership, through the GM’s office to the coaching staff. The Raiders organization could trade rosters with Seattle for a season and still lose 10 games.

Sounds good to me, Raider Nation!! This is exactly where I want us to be ranked…WE STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM; NOW WERE HERE!! Real raider fans find a way to convert the hate into fuel for the war machine!!
Let’s get this…Raiders!!

I want Mike Wilkening to stand by that all season. If you truly believe that the Raiders are the worst team in the league stand by that. The Raiders are arguably the most improved team in the entire league from a personnel standpoint. But thanks for making that chip the size of a boulder on Raiders players shoulders. I just hope Vegas sees it the same way. If

I just hope Mark Davis doesn’t do a knee-jerk and fire everyone after the season. Ownership has to show some stability otherwise they have to keep starting over, perpetually. I thought the drafting of Derek Carr was quite courageous of their GM, building for the long term instead of trying a quick fix.

Every year we hear the same thing from fans and every year Oakland finishes last in the West.

Actually, Oakland finished 3rd in the AFC West every season from 2008-2012. That’s 5 of the last 6 seasons NOT in last place. That’s not saying much, true, but be sure to get your facts straight before you go spouting off at the mouth.

steveoluvraiders says:
Jul 8, 2014 1:13 PM
I want Mike Wilkening to stand by that all season. If you truly believe that the Raiders are the worst team in the league stand by that. The Raiders are arguably the most improved team in the entire league from a personnel standpoint. But thanks for making that chip the size of a boulder on Raiders players shoulders. I just hope Vegas sees it the same way
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I understand that you’re a Raiders fan, so reading is not your strong suit, but it clearly states that this ranking was based on a vote/poll of multiple PFT employees, not just Wilkening.